Dragons, Devils Take Their Duel To The Pool

The Red Devil pool was filled to the brim with action, as the Avon Park and Lake Placid swim teams reconstituted their rivalry with an exciting dual meet on Thursday.

It was the debut meet for new Avon Park swim coach Michael Schofield, who was as energized as his swimmers, all while coaching his team to some impressive results.

"It was really exciting for me and my team, since it was my first home meet as coach," Schofield said. "It was great to see our swimmers starting to show up at the pool deck with a new mind set - winning.

"I'm really proud to coach such a young team that is showing up to the meets with a calm, relaxing and refreshing composure that you see in a veteran team."

The Green Dragon boys team won the meet with a score of 159, with the Red Devils collecting 91 points, while both girls' teams swam to a 72 tie.

Avon Park's Tyler King took first in the 200-yard freestyle (2:20.52), just barely edging out Lake Placid's Dylan Weber-Callahan (2:21.25), with Avon Park's Nolan Jahna coming in third.

King also took second in the 100-yard freestyle (1:00.75), as Lake Placid's Robert Greene won the event (59.09) to continue the Green Dragons dominance in that event.

Avon Park's Drew Sedlock (1:04.30) took third.

King's performance was not looked over by his coach, who believes in his leader in the pool.

"Tyler is just simply an awesome swimmer," Schofield said. "He's our strongest middle-distance swimmer and is showing great leadership in helping the underclassman."

In the 50-yard freestyle, Lake Placid sophomore Kevin Smit took first (26.67), with Sedlock placing second (27.22) and Lake Placid's Jerquaid Quinn (28.18) coming in third.

Avon Park's John Chittum won the boys diving competition with a score of 184.25 with teammate coming in second with a score of 172.05 and Lake Placid's Mark Greenauer taking third with a score of 153.65.

"John and Pablo both showed strong performances," Schofield said. "Last night was the moment we've been waiting for, as both divers were hitting higher numbers to help prove that they're true competitors."

In the 100-yard backstroke, Jahna (1:24.38) beat out Lake Placid's Matthew Padovano (1:25.54) with Avon Park's Tanner Lee (1:35.95) placing third in the event, while Lake Placid's Michael Trujillo (1:18.20) took first in the 100-yard breaststroke ahead of teammate Kevin Nguyen (1:21.55) and Avon Park's Mitchell Guerndt (1:25.51), who came in second and third respectively.

In girls action, Green Dragon senior Marbelly Creel (2:48.30) dominated the 200-yard individual medley over 10 seconds ahead of her closest competitor - teammate Renee Michaud (2:58.76), while Lake Placid's Shannon Cummings (29.53) took first in the 5-yard freestyle ahead of Avon Park's Cara Worth (31.82).

Lake Placid's Sonja Mensching (32.40) took the bronze.

Creel also took first in the 100-yard butterfly (1:13.16), while Avon Park's Brittany Murphy blew away the field in the 100-yard freestyle (1:06.65) while Lake Placid's Morgan Sherwood (1:12.23) and Shannon Viox (1:14.83) rounded out the top three.

Lake Placid's Alexa Murray took first in two individual events - 200-yard free (2:37.93) and the 500-yard free (7:10.53), while placing second in the 200-yard medley relay.

Avon Park freshman Jamie Wirries placed first in the diving competition with a score of 146.60, while Lake Placid's Shannon Cummings took second with a score of 109.60 and Morgan Sherwood placed third with a score of 102.95.

Lake Placid's Tammi Beach took first in the 100-yard backstroke (1:15.49) over 11 seconds ahead of teammate Shannon Viox (1:26.79).